I saw again

another room

housing stranger

sights to see.

In it was many a fool

chaperoned by demon's hand.

And affixed to every

limb and joint,

a slender thread

of darkest black

secured to the tightest tight.

These victims, like

those before,

mastered not

their own

faculties,

functioning not

like you or I

until provoked to shriek

and cry.

Each scaly, winged demon thus

did with them as they wished.

One man was made to dance through fire

another choked his comrades with their wires.

Before I could

begin to think

to look for

my fellow men,

a familiar tugging

pulled me along.

Dimmer, harder

to see on.

On this sojourn,

I believe,

many more

had gone before

and ever still

new souls to come.

Every step

I undertook

carried the weight

of all damned down

this despicable trail.

I knew of course

my stop to be

set aside especially

keen on my misery.

But until I reached

my destination,

I did partake in some

slight schadenfreude.